Solaire of Astora
: "Praise thy Sun, thou art chosen." : — Solaire of Astora 'Knight Solaire of Astora '''is a plate-clad Crusader, and one of the central allies in Dark Souls. Knight Solaire is a major character in A Song of Ice and Fire, and Game of Thrones (HBO) where he attempted to aide Robb Stark in defeating the Lannisters. He was one of the only soldiers to escape the Red Wedding with his life, the other Knights were all slain. Biography Background Knight Solaire's past is relatively obscure, though it is known he joined the Covenant of Sunlight during his teenage years to bring glory to himself and his family. Solaire made a pilgrimage to Westeros at age twenty five, on a mission to bring the Covenant of Sunlight there and spread his holy word. Knight Solaire declared himself lord of 'House Solaire', the smallest house in Westeros, with him being the only actual member, and set up his keep in the North. As the years passed, Knight Solaire ended up aligning himself with the Stark family as a bannerman. He was especially valued for his valor and combat experience, which he proved to be a skilled swordsman. He made a strong friendship with Robb Stark during the coming battles. Eddard Stark's death After Lord Stark was executed in cold blood, Knight Solaire dropped his banners and assimilated into the Stark army as a sworn blade, with King of the North Robb Stark vouching for him personally. Knight Solaire trained many new recruits, and was quite pleased to see the hope and excitement being shared by all the men. Knight Solaire also made friends with Roose Bolton, lord of The Dreadfort and respected bannerman of house Stark, whom Robb would often seek counsel with. Solaire and Roose often sparred in their spare time, gradually learning from each other's unique styles of fighting. Battle of The Whispering Wood As newly appointed King Robb makes plans for the capture of Jaime Lannister, Solaire vigorously trained the new stark recruits, preparing them for a major war to come.Jaime Lannister was primary target number one after Robb had learned of his role in the attempted assassination of Bran Stark, his own brother. The huge northern force assimilated at the Wispering Wood, with Knight Solaire in the front lines. Robb and his men debate strategy, since they are outnumbered by the vast Lannister army. Several lords favor a direct confrontation with Tywin's forces, while Greatjon Umber advocates trying to outflank Tywin, get past him, and then confront Jaime's forces at Riverrun. Robb is still undecided when one of the Lannister scouts is taken prisoner. He tells Robb that he counted roughly 20,000 men in the Stark host. Robb tells him to carry a message to Tywin, telling him that twenty thousand Northern warriors are coming to face him. Lord Tywin receives word that the Starks are moving against him. Believing this is the full Stark host, based on the information the captured scout returned to him, he prepares to confront it. In a pitched battle - the Battle of the Green Fork - the Lannisters emerge soundly victorious due to overwhelming superiority of numbers, but quickly realize that they have been deceived. The Capture of Jaime Lannister The bulk of Robb's forces descends on Jaime's army and lures him into the Whispering Wood, northwest of Riverrun. In a decisive battle, Robb's Northmen win a significant victory by defeating the Lannister army and take Jaime himself prisoner. The soldiers under Solaire remained unscathed. Jaime challenges Robb to single combat to decide the matter, but Robb refuses. Jaime was taken to the Stark camp to be interrogated and tortured, and to face punishment for his crimes against the North. Battle of Stone Mill Solaire later takes part in an attempt to lure Tywin Lannister away from Harrenhal and leave King's Landing open for an attack. Robb Stark invaded The Westerlands and won a great victory at the Battle of Oxcross. This left his army free to sack and pillage the northern Westerlands. Meanwhile, Robb left the remaining Stark-Tully forces in the Riverlands under the command of his uncle Edmure Tully. The war dragged on in the Riverlands in a series of raids, counter-raids, and skirmishes between Edmure's forces based at Riverrun, and Tywin Lannister's forces based at Harrenhal to the east. Robb's offensive in the Westerlands eventually succeeded in luring a Lannister army led by Gregor Clegane (called "The Mountain That Rides") to march back to the west, and attempt to force a passage over the Red Fork of the Trident River. Gregor Clegane's forces seized control of Stone Mill, hoping to use it as a crossing site over the Red Fork. Edmure Tully, commanding Robb's forces at and around Riverrun, decided to engage the Mountain's forces and prevent their crossing. The Lannisters withdrew from the area, and Edmure also recaptured Stone Mill. Tactically, the battle was an amazing success, inflicting two to one losses on the Lannisters and forcing Gregor Clegane to retreat from the Red Fork and back to Harrenhal. Tywin's young nephews, Willem and Martyn Lannister are taken hostage in the battle. Strategically, the battle was a significant blunder. Robb Stark's plan was to lure Gregor Clegane's forces further west into the Riverlands where they could be surrounded and destroyed. Edmure's attack instead allowed Clegane and his army to escape. Gregor and his army soon abandoned Harrenhal entirely to take part in the Lannister victory at the Battle of the Blackwater - which would not have happened if Edmure had lured more Lannister forces into the west. Aftermath of War Knight Solaire was injured somewhat critically during the battle of the Stone Mill, receiving a concussion and several broken ribs. He was out of service for the time being until he could heal, rendering one of Robb's best fighters out of the conquest. This significantly decreased Northern battle prowess, and the coming battles without Solaire's tactical and intuitive mind were met with more losses than gains. Liberation of Harrenhal The last conquest for the Northern army that Knight Solaire would ever take part in, the 'Liberation' of Harrenhal was a colossal defeat. With the morale of his army starting to wane without a major victory in months, and the release of Jaime Lannister by Catelyn Stark herself, King Robb decides to withdraw from the Westerlands, and challenge the Lannisters head-on, in the hope that another victory would regain lost morale. Robb chooses to march with his army against Harrenhal, the heart of Lannister presence in the Riverlands. The Stark Army was composed of 18.000 men, with a recently recovering Knight Solaire commanding the forces, between infantry and cavalary. However, Robb does not find the decisive victory he was hoping for: the Mountain has withdrawn and not even bothered to waste any men on a token defense of the castle. The Northmen are further demoralized to find the courtyards are choked with the bodies of two hundred Northern and Riverlands prisoners of war put to the sword before they left. The Red Wedding The Betrayal : ''My honored guests, be welcome within my walls and at my table. I extend to you my hospitality and protection in the light of the Seven." : ―Lord Walder to King Robb and his entourage On the grim and final night of Robb Stark's life, Knight Solaire accompanied him in his vanguard, and maintained his camp outside the walls of house Frey's massive stronghold, the Twins. Beside Solaire's tent was house Forrester, with lord Gregor Forrester residing within, planning for the assault on Casterly Rock. Inside the castle, King Robb was lulled into a false sense of security by Walder Frey because he had officially extended guest right to the Starks by formally eating salt and bread from the same bowl as his guests. To break guest right is to break all the laws of gods and men, thus while Robb and Catelyn were always wary of Walder Frey's intentions, they never thought that even such a despicable man as he would sink so low as to break such a sacred pact. The North was ready to charge towards Casterly Rock, with House Forrester as the vanguard. The betrayal was scheduled to occur after the formal ceremony and the bedding, with Edmure and Roslin safely away in another part of the castle to consummate their marriage. The door of the great hall was closed by Black Walder. Meanwhile, Roose Bolton and his men were to position themselves around the hall, secretly armed and armored. Very carefully, they all sat behind Stark soldiers and very few of them, including Roose, consumed little alcohol, so as to keep their inhibitions intact. The signal for massacre to begin was for the musicians to play an instrumental version of "The Rains of Castamere". Walder Frey eventually holds a hand up to cue the musicians to cease playing, addressing Robb and claiming that he has been negligent in his duties as a host by failing to present his king with a proper wedding gift. At this moment, Roose Bolton gives Catelyn a knowing look and glances towards his left arm. Her eyes follow his gaze and she sees a bit of chain mail peaking out from his sleeve. She then lifts up his sleeve which reveals the chain mail he is wearing underneath. Roose smiles ominously and Catelyn realizes that they have been led into a trap: she slaps Roose across the face and then shouts to warn Robb, but it is too late. At Walder Frey's signal, Lothar Frey approaches Talisa Stark from behind and begins to repeatedly stab her in the abdomen with a dagger, killing her unborn child instantly and causing her to quickly succumb to her wounds. The musicians hired for the wedding reveal themselves to be a group of assassins, brandishing crossbows and firing on Robb Stark and the Northern leadership gathered in the main hall. After the first volley, the Northern guests are attacked in the main hall by armed Frey and Bolton men, while the crossbowmen continue to pick off survivors. Some of the Northerners killed by the Freys fall dead into their meals. Outside of the keep, Frey and Bolton men turn on the other Northern soldiers in the camps who had been heavily drinking during the celebrations, taking them completely by surprise. Four Frey crossbowmen approach Grey Wind, Robb's direwolf, who has been forbidden from entering the castle to prevent him from defending Robb during the massacre, and fatally shoot him with crossbows while he is trapped inside a pen. Arya Stark, who had snuck into the courtyard in the hopes of reuniting with her mother, witnesses the direwolf's killing while hiding behind some nearby barrels. While battling the Freys, Rodrik Forrester is crushed under a horse. Knight Solaire's tent is lit on fire from the front, engulfing into flames with the Knight inside. Lord Walder, seeing that Robb has survived the initial onslaught, raises a hand to halt the carnage and watches Robb's suffering with cruel amusement. Catelyn, who had taken refuge under her table, notices that Walder Frey's eighth wife, Joyeuse Frey, is hiding beneath Walder's table and rushes forward, dragging her out and putting a table knife to her throat. She beseeches Walder to end the slaughter and allow Robb to leave. She offers herself as a hostage in exchange for Robb's life, desperately screaming at Robb to walk out while he can but he is too shocked over his beloved wife's death and instead poignantly looks at her corpse. When Robb fails to respond, she turns back to Walder and promises that they will not retaliate if he is allowed to live, swearing an oath. Walder fires back that she already swore an oath to him that Robb would marry his daughter, finally revealing his motive for the betrayal. In a last plea of desperation, she swears on her honor as a Tully and a Stark that if Robb is not allowed to leave the chamber, she will slit Joyeuse's throat. Walder appears to consider her offer for a moment before glibly responding that he will simply "find another" wife. Robb then somehow finds the strength to drag himself back onto his feet, and weakly calls out "Mother!" to her in a daze. As Catelyn looks into Robb's eyes, Roose Bolton steps in front of Robb and tells him that "the Lannisters send their regards", stabbing him through the heart. Robb is killed instantly and shares a final, lifeless look to his mother before he dies next to his wife. True to her word, Catelyn slits Joyeuse's throat and lets out a wail of grief, believing all of her sons to be dead. Walder is barely concerned over his wife's death or the ongoing massacre, nonchalantly sipping his wine. Catelyn then becomes catatonic, silently staring at Robb's corpse in shock and utter despair, not reacting as her own throat is slit nearly to the bone from behind by Black Walder Rivers. Solaire duels Darkel Knight Solaire escapes his burning tent, and is confronted by Darkel Frey, Walder Frey's eldest son. The two engage in a vicious battle in the midst of the vehement massacre taking place around them, with the wounded and weakened Solaire fighting as hard as he can. The men eventually find themselves in a firey blaze, with Darkel gaining the upper hand. Darkel slashes Solaire, staggering him. Solaire, in a burst of pure adrenaline, smashes through Darkel's block and picks him up by the throat with one hand, choking him. Darkel gags profusely, but Solaire stabs him through the abdomen and throws his still living body into the flames surrounding them, killing him. Solaire sprints to aide his King, but realizes that Robb is already dead. Solaire, hopeless as his fellow soldiers die around him, charges into a horde of Bolton soldiers. Solaire fights several off valiantly, but is eventually stabbed through the chest by Locke and left to die. Category:Dark Souls Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Season 2 Characters Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Season 6 Characters Category:Knights Category:Warrior Category:Northmen Category:Bannermen of House Stark Category:Characters Category:Honor Guard Category:War of the Five Kings